December '10 Reading: The Sound and the Fury by Faulkner

[Scheherazade]

In December, we will be reading The Sound and the Fury by Faulkner.

Please post your comments and questions in this thread.

[tandooriyak]

I'm having a difficult time locating an eBook copy of this book. Is it just difficult to find eBook copies of Faulkner or am I just looking in the wrong places? I have a Barnes & Noble nook and the only versions available to purchase through Barnes & Noble are either paper or the Sparks Notes version. I also couldn't find it in the library. While I love looking at and touching paper books, I am not so fond of reading books on paper at this point.

[Dark Muse]

I do not about e-book but I found it really hard to find an online version of the story, which is probably why it was difficult to find as e-book as well. I only found like one version of it online.

[Abu3li]

Hi everyone,

I've got a PDF version of the book and Hypertext website, which is very interesting.

The PDF version link:


http://rapidshare.com/files/434602070/The_Sound_and_the_Fury_by_Faulkner_William.pdf


The Hypertext link:

http://www.usask.ca/english/faulkner/


I hope that would be helpful to you guys.

[Dark Muse]

The hypertext is the one I am using, I have to say I find that chronological version they offer to be incredibly helpful and useful in understanding the story. I have been reading both the original side by side with the chronological version to put what is happening in better perspective in order to make heads and tales out of it.

[OrphanPip]

I dug out my old copy from high school, I'll start rereading next week. I just need to deal with some other stuff first.

[Taliesin]

I started the book with a fever of about 37.8 C , got halfway through with it and it all seemed perfectly logical, but now, when I feel somewhat better and my fever has lowered to 37.0 C, the book seems a bit hard to understand. Maybe I should try to continue when I'm okay again.

[Dark Muse]

I started the book with a fever of about 37.8 C , got halfway through with it and it all seemed perfectly logical, but now, when I feel somewhat better and my fever has lowered to 37.0 C, the book seems a bit hard to understand. Maybe I should try to continue when I'm okay again.

OMG it is hysterical that you said that, becasue the first time this book started to make some degree of sense to me is when I tried reading it really late at night and I trying to just not fall asleep and wasn't thinking clearly. I think it is required to be in some altered state of consciousness to get this book.

[Dark Muse]

I just started reading the 2nd narrative June 2 1910 and I am confused.

Is the implication that Caddy was a woman of "loose virtue" who slept around a lot?

And did Quentin sleep with Caddy?

[L.M. The Third]

I'm hoping to join in by next week, if the discussion hasn't left me far behind by then.

[mrv]

Is the implication that Caddy was a woman of "loose virtue" who slept around a lot?

You're right about what Caddy did but it's important to consider why she did it. She deserves more sympathy than this estimation of her character allows her.


And did Quentin sleep with Caddy?

No!


I'm hoping to join in by next week, if the discussion hasn't left me far behind by then.

I'll wait for you. :)

[Dark Muse]

I really was not judging Caddy, just trying to figure out what the heck is happening in the story.

And if Quentin did not sleep with Caddy what is all that business about committing incest?

[Greta Kin]

How convenient! I just started TSATF 2 days ago.

Hello from a n00b!

[Dark Muse]

I think I may be reaching my limit, I am now seriously contemplating just throwing the whole thing over. My interest in continuation for this story is greatly flagging.

[MrsWentworth]

Well from what I can tell I'm completely behind on this reading. My local library didn't have The Sound and the Fury and my kindle doesn't get wireless in New Zealand (cry) but I am now stealing wifi off my neighbour (we'll shortly be getting our own internet yay!) so I was able to download the PDF version someone was kind enough to post here, and have transfered it successfully onto my kindle (my first time doing a PDF file!). I will start reading it today! I look forward to posting my thoughts on it soon, and posting to you guys more often now that I will have internet again!
-Chloe

[mrv]

I think I may be reaching my limit, I am now seriously contemplating just throwing the whole thing over. My interest in continuation for this story is greatly flagging.

The last two parts will help clear most of the confusion. It's a great book only if you can stop trying to understand it all the time. Just enjoy the snippets and random images even though they may not form a complete picture until you've finished reading the whole book.

You could also check this (http://www.online-literature.com/forums/showthread.php?t=16592) out.

[Dark Muse]

The last two parts will help clear most of the confusion. It's a great book only if you can stop trying to understand it all the time. Just enjoy the snippets and random images even though they may not form a complete picture until you've finished reading the whole book.

You could also check this (http://www.online-literature.com/forums/showthread.php?t=16592) out.

I fear I do not find the snippets interesting enough to enjoy for their own sake, the story has failed to capture my attention and engage me. And without having some basic understanding of what I am reading and why I am reading it, I have no investment in any of the characters and don't much care what happens to them.

This story leaves me with the impression that if I were under the influence of some mind altering substance I would like it a lot more.

It is my 2nd time reading Faulkner and well we just don't get along very well.

[DickZ]

I fear I do not find the snippets interesting enough to enjoy for their own sake, the story has failed to capture my attention and engage me. And without having some basic understanding of what I am reading and why I am reading it, I have no investment in any of the characters and don't much care what happens to them.

This story leaves me with the impression that if I were under the influence of some mind altering substance I would like it a lot more.

It is my 2nd time reading Faulkner and well we just don't get along very well.
I agree wholeheartedly with the Muse. After plowing through one-third of the book, I just got disgusted with the whole thing and quit. I guess there must be something there, as I would hope that an author always deserves the praise he/she gets, and Faulkner gets a lot of praise, but his writing must have been over my head. I very rarely give up on books midway through, but I sure did with this one.

[Dark Muse]

I agree wholeheartedly with the Muse. After plowing through one-third of the book, I just got disgusted with the whole thing and quit. I guess there must be something there, as I would hope that an author always deserves the praise he/she gets, and Faulkner gets a lot of praise, but his writing must have been over my head. I very rarely give up on books midway through, but I sure did with this one.

Yes I know what you mean. I presume that he must be a classic for a reason, and I am not going to claim I know better, but personally I just don't get it. His writing just doesn't speak to me and does leave me feeling underwhelemd in comparison to all the praise he receives.

[dfloyd]

three or four of his novels which most can read with enjoyment. The one I have enjoyed the most is Absolom! Absolom! It takes some concentration to get into Faulkner's stream of conscious style. I found As I Lay Dying easier to read than most of his stories, but I didn't care much for it. The instructor I had for it loved the book, and modern American fiction was his forte. For a college professor with a PhD, I found him extremely lacking in reading classic literature. But he did know Faulkner.

The Sound and the Fury was confusing to me on the first go around. So I read various notes on the novel and watched the movie with Yul Brynner. The second time through the novel was a lot better. If you are going to teach literature, you should finish the book and give Faulkner a chance. If you are just reading for enjoyment, it is not necessary to devote a lot of time reading an author who is fairly hard to digest. I have found that if you read a book and understand it thoroughly, you can make a better decision about it: what you like or dislike. If you just give up, you're allowing the book to defeat you.

[Emil Miller]

If you are just reading for enjoyment, it is not necessary to devote a lot of time reading an author who is fairly hard to digest. I have found that if you read a book and understand it thoroughly, you can make a better decision about it: what you like or dislike. If you just give up, you're allowing the book to defeat you.

I don't see the point in torturing oneself in the hope that a full reading will give a better understanding of the book. I have always made it a rule to steer clear of tedious or pretentious novels by reading literary criticism to give me some idea whether it will be the kind of book that I would find worthwhile. The only exception was trying to read The Trial by Franz Kafka which was so mind bendingly tedious that I gave up halfway and have never regretted it. A much more readable novel of totalitarianism, only at first hand, is Darkness at Noon by Arthur Koestler.

[dfloyd]

What you can't abide today may be a favorite tomorrow. Darkness at Noon is a much easier to read novel than The Trial. I liked the Koestler novel much better than the Kafka at first reading (they were both read at about the same time). I just didn't understand The Trial. Years later when I read The Trial, I saw how Kafka's novel was far superior to Koestler's.

Perhaps I didn't make myself clear. When a person is going to teach literature at whatever level, he/she should absorb as much as possible. In medical school, the instructors make courses as tough as possible to weed out those students who can't absorb and understand the basics. In engineering, my major, heavy doses of physics and calculus the first two years separate those who will go on in engineering from those who can't grasp basic engineering principles. So I see nothing wrong in separating those who are going to teach literature from those who are taking English literature because they've heard it was easy. If you can't get through a writer like Faulkner or Kafka, You have no business teaching others. It's not a matter of likes or dislikes, but a matter of ability.

[iamnobody]

I tried TSATF a while back and quit about 2/3 in. I'm willing to give it another go, but I hope the end really does justify the means.

[Emil Miller]

What you can't abide today may be a favorite tomorrow. Darkness at Noon is a much easier to read novel than The Trial. I liked the Koestler novel much better than the Kafka at first reading (they were both read at about the same time). I just didn't understand The Trial. Years later when I read The Trial, I saw how Kafka's novel was far superior to Koestler's..

It wasn't that I didn't understand what Kafka was saying in The Trial, but the way in which he chose to say it that rendered the book tedious, and it is worth remembering that Koestler really did spend time in prison: albeit for reasons given by his captors. Using allegory to explain what is abundantly clear to anyone with the slightest interest in politics seems heavy-handed and unnecessary. Those without an interest in politics are unlikely to read it anyway unless instructed to by their teacher.

[L.M. The Third]

Using some character outlines, I've been able so far (which isn't very far yet) to keep things relatively straight. But I'm a little confused about the carriage scene, where "Mother" is afraid to leave Quentin. Is this present-time, or a flash back? Was I supposed to understand her reason?

[Big Dante]

I think I am unfortunately too late to start reading this, looks like I will have to wait until the new year to begin with the book club.